what is rollkur?

[cumbriamax]

hi all, there seems to be a lot of talk about rollkur at the moment! so basically am looking for an idiots explanation of what rollkur actually is?thankyou.

 

[Waffles]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollkur

 

[Oberon]

This is a terrible picture - but you can really see the stress that this horse's whole body is under. The back muscles and abdominal muscles are under immense strain and you can imagine how impossible it would be for a horse to work properly like this.....let alone carry a rider and perform.

You can tell a horse working correctly from a horse being pulled in by watching the hind legs and how the angle of them corresponds to the opposite fore in trot.
The bio-mechanics of the horse means that when the horse is pulled in like this - he physically cannot step under with his hind leg.

 

[cumbriamax]

why didn't I think of wikipedia?

This is truly terrible & that picture is shocking.